Counterfeit Don the Beachcomber Tiki Mugs?

Hi All,
So, these may be completely legit, but they give me a chance to open a discussion I've wondered about for a while. On Ebay last week, a pair of Don The Beachcomber simple bamboo-ish mugs sold for $500+ bucks! They look old, seem rare (I've never seen them or even a reference to them, anyway) but I'm suspicious. Was there a Hollywood DTB on Vermont? (The mugs say "Vermond" & "Vermonde" which bothers me). The original was on McCadden Place, correct? Does anyone know anything about these? My point is, as tiki stuff rises in value, counterfeits seem inevitable - especially online. These are simple designs, easy for a relatively competent ceramist to produce.
Also, DTB had so many versions of their stuff it might be fairly easy to slip a reasonable fake into the mix and most would have no idea.
I'm not saying these are fakes but they seem problematic to me. I am curious to hear what others think.
Thanks.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-06-01 20:39 ]

Those are the real deal, shown here in a post by Pa'akiki.

A mug marked from don the beachcomber Hollywood i have only ever seen a picture of it in the book "hawaii tropical rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber"
from the book

found this a few years back

Vermond is the mug maker.

DC

Thanks for the details & images, DC.
60's? 70's?
Not DTB's most inspired work but interesting to see.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-06-02 01:35 ]

Don wasn't known for mugs. They didn't use many. And to be honest, they were known for a beachcomber style that was not "slick" and refined. These fit right in.

I think Vermonde is the company that made the mugs.

Personally two of my favorite mugs of all time are the emerald long neck and the original coconut. DTB had great taste in all of the artwork they used to support the restaurants. Menus, flyers, matchbooks, swizzlesticks, postcards, mugs, etc. are often the best of the era.
That's why so many still exist - nobody could bring themselves to throw them away.
Don't get me wrong Swanky, if I found these at a garage sale I'd lunge for them. They just aren't up to his usual high standards in my opinion.

They look great, I dig the blood red color.

Swanky is right, Don the Beachcomber made very few mugs. Here are some photos of the line up from the 1960s.

DC

Thanks all, for responding and posting on this. I haven't personally seen any mug rip-offs or frauds, but now that we're edging closer and closer to the $1,000.00 range on some of this stuff, it becomes more viable.
And on these mugs in particular, I agree, (now that I know something about them) anything from the original DTB is a pretty cool thing to have.
On collecting, and I am sorry to say I am one (I wish I could say I am a recovering collector) there are two kinds of collectors.
Those who collect everything there ever was in a genre and those who collect only what they like.
I struggle to not be the former and try to think about how something will fit in with the other things I have. And more than that, do I even like it beyond some historical significance it might represent. Unfortunately, I think in most cases I was happier with my collections when I only had a couple of things and the dream of finding more. The more I find, the more it begins to feel like a burden. Especially with mugs. Two on a shelf is much cooler than 100 - (journey not the destination - maybe we should collect like a fly fisherman. After we find something, throw it back).
Anyway, you've convinced me these mugs have some historic value and beachcomber charm.
Would I spend $560 bucks on them? No effing way!

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-06-04 12:53 ]

i have a story about these 2 exact mugs that were on ebay. did anyone here get them because i sure didnt, after a long fiasco with the seller

Hi Nomeus,
Everything about this sale made me suspicious - which is why I started this thread in the first place. $500.00 bucks opening bid bothered me - which made me wonder about their authenticity. I was obviously coming to the wrong conclusion, but it sounds like my instincts weren't entirely off.
You may not want to go into it here, but I would be very interested to hear what happened.
Thanks.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-06-29 14:56 ]

it isnt too crazy but basically its like this... this isnt the first listing. they had them listed for way less.

ok so basically i think the seller just didnt know what was going on and didnt trust what i was saying. ultimately i lost these mugs due to my own error but the seller really messed me up by not doing what i asked and suggested. instead they listened to ebays horrible advice.

first the mugs were listed starting at 35.00. i emailed the seller and offered them like 200.00. they canceled the listing and instead of adding best offer option, they listened to ebay and made a whole new auction without the offer option. didnt even include a buy it now option. there is so much frustration with what happened that i dont even know where to begin. let me try short version...

mugs start at 35.00

i offer 200, and suggest to add buy it now option

seller waits too long and now has a bid

ebay suggested to cancel and start over

i offer 250 to try to speed up the process

seller makes new listing with mugs starting at like 35 again i believe

i place bid for 250 and tell seller to cancel 2nd listing because this will never work

seller gets in argument with me saying that they dont see my bid of 250. then yes they do see the bid but the HIGH bid is only like 35.

i explain thats correct because until someone outbids me, im winning at 35. seller doesnt understand.

many emails back and forth

now going into another day..in a panic i offer 500 just to end this ordeal

seller ends listing starts new one at 500. doesnt tell me and doesnt tell me it is for only 1 day

for whatever reason i forget about this situation and sure enough, i miss out on the whole thing

a few minutes after it ends (i think 500 or 550) i offer the seller 1000, stating to just cancel the transaction and sell to me via paypal invoice

seller is "afraid to ruin my perfect ebay rating and im sorry i cannot do that"... a perfect rating with 239 pieces of feedback? ha ok

there you go...i lost out. i partially blame the seller and of course myself. the whole thing is maddening to me as i have been looking for those mugs for almost 2 years.

getting drunk is like borrowing happiness from tomorrow

[ Edited by: nomeus 2015-06-29 18:52 ]

On 2015-06-29 18:47, nomeus wrote:
it isnt too crazy but basically its like this... this isnt the first listing. they had them listed for way less.

ok so basically i think the seller just didnt know what was going on and didnt trust what i was saying. ultimately i lost these mugs due to my own error but the seller really messed me up by not doing what i asked and suggested. instead they listened to ebays horrible advice.

first the mugs were listed starting at 35.00. i emailed the seller and offered them like 200.00. they canceled the listing and instead of adding best offer option, they listened to ebay and made a whole new auction without the offer option. didnt even include a buy it now option. there is so much frustration with what happened that i dont even know where to begin. let me try short version...

mugs start at 35.00

i offer 200, and suggest to add buy it now option

seller waits too long and now has a bid

ebay suggested to cancel and start over

i offer 250 to try to speed up the process

seller makes new listing with mugs starting at like 35 again i believe

i place bid for 250 and tell seller to cancel 2nd listing because this will never work

seller gets in argument with me saying that they dont see my bid of 250. then yes they do see the bid but the HIGH bid is only like 35.

i explain thats correct because until someone outbids me, im winning at 35. seller doesnt understand.

many emails back and forth

now going into another day..in a panic i offer 500 just to end this ordeal

seller ends listing starts new one at 500. doesnt tell me and doesnt tell me it is for only 1 day

for whatever reason i forget about this situation and sure enough, i miss out on the whole thing

a few minutes after it ends (i think 500 or 550) i offer the seller 1000, stating to just cancel the transaction and sell to me via paypal invoice

seller is "afraid to ruin my perfect ebay rating and im sorry i cannot do that"... a perfect rating with 239 pieces of feedback? ha ok

there you go...i lost out. i partially blame the seller and of course myself. the whole thing is maddening to me as i have been looking for those mugs for almost 2 years.

---

getting drunk is like borrowing happiness from tomorrow

[ Edited by: nomeus 2015-06-29 18:52 ]

Two years... I've been looking for those mugs for close to ten. And I am sure some have been looking for those for much longer than that. Last time they came up the same shenanigans occurred where someone offered some bs price for them and they were pulled off the market. That is however another story.

I saw the Beachcomber mugs listing and put a bid in. Knowing very well they are worth well over $250 each if not more. I respect the open market and yes, sometimes you get lucky with a misspelled listing or what have you. Then the seller sends me an e-mail telling me he's pulling them off the market because someone offered him an undisclosed amount. I am sorry, but I have ZERO sympathy for someone trying undercut all other bidders by secretly manipulating the seller to pull an item off the market and not letting the auction run its course. Now you want us to feel sorry for you because you did not get those mugs for less than obviously what they are worth?

"first the mugs were listed starting at 35.00. i emailed the seller and offered them like 200.00. "

You knew that those mugs were worth more and if other people found out about this listing that it would go for more. Why else contact the seller and try to have pull them off the market? You want me to feel sympathy for you that you did not get those mugs for a $100 a piece? Why did you not offer a $1000 if that is what apparently now - after the fact - what you were willing to pay for them? But you are the victim and the seller is the bad guy....

According to you, "the seller really messed me up by not doing what i asked and suggested" which was to sell them to you for $200. I can see how you feel that way but I can't help but feel that the seller did not mess up.

Then someone wins the actual auction for $550 and now you are upset that the seller won't cancel the winning bid so he can sell them to you? Cancel a transaction that was honestly won in an auction so you can get it because you've been dishonest and manipulative? Uhm... why would he trust you? You tried to rob him of over $300.

And no, I did not get them.

[ Edited by: Tattoo 2015-06-30 10:28 ]

Yeah, I have to agree, that wasn't exactly the story of the evil, devil worshiping seller I was hoping for.
I am also not a fan of this backdoor offer business. The seller's shouldn't be allowed to take them and it's unethical for buyers to try and knock others out of the running this way. An auction is an auction and should run it's course. If the thing doesn't sell - then an offer can be discussed privately after.

On these mugs in particular, I've been collecting this stuff since the 70's and granted, I had never seen these - so I can understand their appeal for being rare and from the original Hollywood location. But frankly, they just aren't that good. They look like a tweaked catalog item the manufacturer included in an order for lack of any better ideas. Certainly not worth a thousand bucks - come on. But it IS a fact in collecting, that sometimes the uglier the piece, the rarer it is because they go right into the trash. The little coconut mugs, for instance, are cuter and therefore harder to throw away - so you see a lot of them.

On losing this auction - as rare as they might seem - they make lots of mugs when they build a run like this and more than once I've fought a fierce battle over something and lost, only to have another one pop up the next week - better and with no competition. It has happened the other way too - where I HAVE won after painfully over bidding.
I think you guys should count yourselves lucky you didn't win these at 560 bucks and quietly offer your condolences to the poor sap that did.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-06-30 11:50 ]

i never asked anyone to feel sorry or sympathy for me and i feel no shame for offering a seller of any item, any price. i dont know the value of those mugs but of course i felt they were worth more than 200 for the pair. ive been making offers to sellers for certain items for years and will continue to do so. youre entitled to your opinion and im entitled to handle my transactions however i see fit. im surely not the only person that does this as it has happened to me. in fact, it just recently happened with that extra long tiki gardens matchbook. seller claimed the cat ate it. i asked for pics of damage and they never replied. ive had plenty of sellers happily cancel listings and invoice me through paypal. it is what it is. speaking for myself, if i want something bad enough, ill work whatever angle i can to get it. no remorse and surely wont lose sleep over it.

This above story is an obvious reason not to make an offer to cancel their ebay auction.

Sadly this does happen all the time. It happened to me on a Trader Mort mug. I had been looking for one for years (have one now). One came up on ebay and I made sure to get my bid in. A day later it was taken off ebay, obviously from an outside ebay offer. I was pretty mad and emailed the seller, "hopefully you got $500+ for this cause that is what I was ready to pay." I am sure he did not get that much, and I might not have really paid that much, but I did want the seller to realize that he could have made more money on this item than he thought.

I guess it is on the seller. If the seller is getting offers like $200, no $500, no $1000 and he doesn't realize that he should obviously leave it to see how much he can ACTUALLY get for the item, he is the idiot. I would never cancel my auction, I know that I can make more than what I have been offered.

Unfortunately offering to purchase outside of ebay is very common and it will have to reduce all of us to this level, or we will lose out of items that we want.

Because unlike most people, Luna
you have integrity!

This kind of stuff is why I stopped buying from ebay.
The thing is one of the main guys doing this does not want just one of the
most sought after mugs, he wants them all.
And people like this guy because he gets the extra mugs to give away or trade
with people for the tiki items he wants.

So while people say this is a bad thing to do they Looovvee the guy who does it
the most.

I got an offer from this guy before and it goes like this....
"Hello I am really interested in your item and wanted to bid but will be away
on business and will be unable to bid so will you take $000.0?"
Thing is this guy has e snipe and must have a team of people looking for and receiving tiki
as it was huge amounts back then.

This was some time ago so this person could have changed his ways, but it looks
like this was the only way to amass the largest tiki collection ever.

Dam all I wanted was one of the old cool mugs, Is that too much to ask?

But then lots of tiki has gone the way of the Bennie Baby and is not worth what it once was.

You can say I or those who do this lack integrity.....I say those who don't, lack ambition. Money talks and that seller should have taken my money. Anyone is free to do what I did and it happens every day.

Yeah! Don't hate the playa, hate the game!

Buzzy Out!

On 2015-06-30 19:41, Bay Park Buzzy wrote:
Yeah! Don't hate the playa, hate the game!

Buzzy Out!

I used to get this stuff for 10 cents and a buck - so this era where $500.00 and $1000.00 for mugs and menus is normal, is really off putting. But as Nomeus wisely states - "it is what it is"."Value' is impossible to set now - it seems to me. I have a friend who collects Modernist stuff. He went to an LA Modern Auctions event and watched a piece just like one he had kicking around his garage, go for $7,000.00 in a bidding war with two buyers. He signed his up for the next auction and watched it go for the starting bid price - because there were only two people that wanted it. So what is it worth?

On the back door offer business - however anyone might want to sugar coat it, it's wrong - in my opinion.

Nomeus' "lack of integrity; lack of ambition" comment is pretty snarky. (You must work in the financial services industry). We gotta quit thinking like this - that winning is everything and what's good for "me" is all that matters. (Not trying to pick on you Nomeus, just making a point - and cute kid by the way).
And anyway, it works the other way too. That Ren Clark mug that was up last week went for the opening bid price. Had that person offered more through the back door… you get it. You just never know - so why not play the game as it is intended to be played.

And (again - anyway) it's Tiki stuff right? For fun right? This is a community right? We're mostly competing with ourselves - people we know and like in here. I stopped dropping bids in the last 5 seconds on things because it bothered me and made me feel like an SOB. So I bid what I'm willing to pay and don't look again until I get the confirmation email. I win and lose that way - but I feel batter about it.

By the way Tattoo - if you ever decide to sell your "Tahitian Smog Cutter" mug on Ebay, could you send me your personal email address so I can make a private offer? I don't want any of these other bastards in here to get it.

On 2015-07-01 16:15, Jamoorea wrote:

By the way Tattoo - if you ever decide to sell your "Tahitian Smog Cutter" mug on Ebay, could you send me your personal email address so I can make a private offer? I don't want any of these other bastards in here to get it.

i like your style

*i supposed it may seem snarky but i stand by what i said. if you really want something, go for it and try to get it. i was the only bidder on that ren clark (texas right?) that youre talking about. why, i dont know. im pretty sure anything ren clark is rare.

on the topic of value, i think the only thing you can do is, if going by ebay, make an average of all the sold and completed sales. ive seen items go for 20$ that had previously sold for hundreds. none of it seems to be a true barometer.

[ Edited by: nomeus 2015-07-01 19:19 ]

Thanks Nomeus - and back atcha. I don't know why that got so heated, but your video was the perfect diffusing touch.

Glad you got the Ren Clark mug. I stared at that everyday for the entire duration of the sale, but for some reason, I just never submitted a bid. And see, to me, that's a good fair price for that. The seller probably thought there might be a blood bath for it, so he/she may not be as happy, but $175.00 feels right. I have a Ren Clark "Virgin's Lament" and a "Black Woman" - which are among my favorites, only because they are so creatively designed. (It has nothing to do with the fact that they are both topless).

I think you're right about averaging sale prices to determine value. Like a bell curve - throw out the highest and lowest, average the rest and you get a pretty good idea.

Thanks for joining in on this thread (and to everyone who contributed). I started it with those DTB bamboo mugs but my interest is really in exactly the kinds of collecting, buying and selling issues we all encounter and have been talking about here.

Be talking to you more soon I'm sure.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-07-01 20:53 ]

im pretty sure it was less than 175, if we are talking about that same mug where the "fort" was glazed/painted over on the bottom?

Yeah, same one. I just looked it up - $175.00 + $13.49 shipping. Did you think it was less?
If you change your mind about it, I'd be interested in it. But again, I think that's a good price you got for it.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-07-01 22:45 ]

"On the back door offer business - however anyone might want to sugar coat it, it's wrong - in my opinion.

Nomeus' "lack of integrity; lack of ambition" comment is pretty snarky. (You must work in the financial services industry). We gotta quit thinking like this - that winning is everything and what's good for "me" is all that matters. (Not trying to pick on you Nomeus, just making a point - and cute kid by the way)."

Great post Jamoorea!
This is a very cool mug.

But man is that the price of your integrity?
The problem with lying or being shifty is once people see you do this just once it's over
and you can never be trusted again.
To me a mug or most anything really is not worth putting that kind of label on myself, for life.

This is a large part of what is wrong with the world today.
But nomeus is in a way right too as this in todays world is how you get ahead, it's part of how you
get the largest tiki collection of all.

AND eBay will cancel the sale if the seller "no longer has this item" because he got a better offer
so because you never bought the item you can't even leave bad feedback for the seller that Dicked you.
This makes eBay a partner in crime really.

Did you ever see Citizen Kane the movie? Or A Face in the Crowd?
Those guys die alone and unhappy.

All I can say is "Rosebud"

One more small clue is the sale page you can look up from eBay.
You can see that they have an s and an I in their eBay name and the feedback number is 722.
They sold for $ 560.00.
You used to be able to look up more info on eBay and find out more.

Was fun to look at the purchases of some really large buyers of tiki it was like going
to the worlds largest online tiki museum.
One spent $5000.00 a month on tiki and this was after TEN years of tiki buying, AND in a recession type economy!
Helped you get the name of different tiki stuff you never even knew existed.

Member Id: s***i( 722Feedback score is 500 to 999) US $560.00
May-28-15 16:26:34 PDT

Member Id: o***k( 1142Feedback score is 1000 to 4,999) US $550.00
May-27-15 17:56:56 PDT

All true Tikiskip - thanks for these posts and your insights.

On the heavy hitters - I've quietly cursed O***K many times for kicking my tiki bidding butt.

I really like the occasional bidding "wars" where the raises are only a dollar or two. It's easy to demonize someone that's bidding against me but I try not to. If I don't have passion for something I'm trying to get and, in one of these dollar increment battles, I can see someone else really really wants it - I let it go. With very few exceptions, EVERYTHING comes up again so I can wait. And for me, the goal is not to own everything or to get it all now. I really enjoy the looking and chatting and appreciating - much more than the acquiring. I'm guessing everyone in here feels the same. And I'm not reselling any of it at a profit or listing my collection on the NASDAQ.

I was at a postcard show last year talking with one of the vendors. We were sort of ruminating on the near impossibility that any of the things in the show could have survived all these years to make it there. So, on one hand, the inflated prices might be the downside, but thanks to all of the people in here, the "tiki archaeologists", writers, collectors and hobbyists, so much more of this stuff has been saved. Even the little Mom and Pop antique dealer in some backwater town is now watching for anything tiki.

"I've quietly cursed O***K many times for kicking my tiki bidding butt"

Har! I know.
Many people used to do the same.

AND I don't mind losing some, but dam to get clubbed every time with that huge wallet
just sucked, so I stopped trying.
Can't imagine the tons of tiki O***K has.
To be blessed with that kind of disposable income and blow it on tiki, going to be one hell of
an auction one day.

Any way it's much more fun to find tiki out in the wild or at an auction or sale nobody
knows about.
Did catch heck for not telling people about some sales, but what you going to do bring in more
bidders?
I did tell people after I got mines.

"We were sort of ruminating on the near impossibility that any of the things in the show could have survived all these years to make it there."

It's the stuff nobody thought to save that can be hard to find, like a bag from the Kahiki.
That and paper items as they do not last well.

Always thought it would be cool to know what the lifetime money a tiki mug could bring.
Like it sells for five bucks at first, then goes up to say $30.00 then all the way up to
say $500.00 only to end up selling for $10.00 dollars right before smashing to bits.

Such is the life of a collector.

On the "Wild" - Man! Isn't that the truth? I got lazy for a while and was only looking at Ebay. And as you say, I'd get slammed or I was bidding WAY too much for something in an effort to compete.

And then I got back in to the wild and remembered how much fun that is. Often the best thing about this are the people you meet. Talking about where something came from, other stuff they've had or seen, etc.
(adding this: Can I also say, when you buy in the wild, the transaction is between you and the seller only. No bank or corporation is sniping a piece of the action.)

There was something I kept losing on Ebay… a photo folder from a Miami club I think. It kept going for over $300.00 bucks! Sheesh!

Then I went to a antique paper show and there is was - for $8.00.

You know, I totally agree about collecting ephemera. It's really satisfying to find things like the Kahiki bag - because you really might have the only one on earth that survived. I've built several portfolio style books of that kind of stuff and on top of the fact that they are so much easier to store and handle than mugs, flipping through a book like that is really satisfying. The things aren't just stuck in a box somewhere.

Interesting point about the money made and spent on a mug over it's lifetime (before it's smashed to bits - Ha!). Who was talking about this? Maybe this is a Sven Kirsten story or could be from Duke Carter's Tiki Quest book - about how dealers were throwing tiki mugs away when they'd find one in a box of stuff they'd bought because they had no value. When I started thinking about this stuff, there were Hawaiiana and Polynesiana collectors and they were mainly focused on wiggling hula girl dolls, wall decorations, light fixtures, rattan furniture, etc. I'd see tiki mugs, but they didn't really start showing up in a big way until Sven's first book came out. I think because they were "free" (not really of course, the drink was twice as much to get one) it took them a long time to have any perceived value. I do have an old Hawaiiana book from the 70's where they include a section on Hawaiian restaurant mugs, so collectors were aware of them.

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-07-02 14:24 ]

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-07-02 14:26 ]

[ Edited by: Jamoorea 2015-07-02 15:00 ]

On 2015-07-02 07:20, tikiskip wrote:

Member Id: s***i( 722Feedback score is 500 to 999) US $560.00
May-28-15 16:26:34 PDT

Member Id: o***k( 1142Feedback score is 1000 to 4,999) US $550.00
May-27-15 17:56:56 PDT

totally false... these "names" youre looking at are randomly generated by ebay. ask ebay yourself.

On 2015-07-02 07:04, tikiskip wrote:

But man is that the price of your integrity?
The problem with lying or being shifty is once people see you do this just once it's over
and you can never be trusted again.
To me a mug or most anything really is not worth putting that kind of label on myself, for life.

who is it im supposed to care about what they think of me? who is it that isnt going to trust me...people on this site who i really dont even know? sure is a tall order just because of the way i try to obtain items on ebay. if this is something i dont think twice about, obviously it is just fine for me. what might be right for you, might not be right for some but it takes different strokes..it takes different strokes to move the world!

*also, where did you get lying from? i never lie to sellers, i simply ask them if they will take an offer

getting drunk is like borrowing happiness from tomorrow

[ Edited by: nomeus 2015-07-02 21:24 ]

"totally false... these "names" youre looking at are randomly generated by ebay. ask ebay yourself."

Well not being in the eBay game anymore it may be that it changed but it used to be that they would take two letters from your eBay name and that would be a clue as to who bid on these items, that and the
big history numbers.
o***k has a bid history of close to 5000, Hummm who could that be?
Bet he has an "o" and a "k" in his eBay name.

"*also, where did you get lying from? i never lie to sellers, i simply ask them if they will take an offer"

Well here what I said was lying or being shifty.
For me asking if a seller will take an offer falls under the being shifty part of that statement.

Look it's a sale, the terms are clear, runs for so many days, here's the starting bid, highest bid wins, we all know how it works.

Will you take x amount is not part of how an eBay running auction works.
That's called a buy it now type auction, if this was a buy it now auction I give you my apologies.

Don't get all pissed, some think that it's ok, some don't.
It's falls down to an interpretation of the rules on an eBay auction.
If you feel what you did is ok, and don't care what others think, don't get bent over it.

yea those names are not real. generated to protect members privacy.

aint nobody bent here, certainly not me but as i said, there isnt any lying going on. and i get what youre saying about "thats not how a running auction works" but if a seller whats to deal off the site or make changes, thats on them. ive had plenty of sellers over the years suggest paypal invoices to avoid paying ebays fees. is it undermining the whole process? absolutely but it happens all the time.

reminds me of a story from a year ago or so. stolen disney property on ebay. 3 different costumes. captain hook, a lion king character and king louie from jungle book (all walk into a bar, jk). someone in france had obviously stolen these costumes as they were paris disneyland costumes. they were listed at 20,000.00 each i believe. i called ebay and asked them what kind of protection would i receive if i paid 20k and didnt get the item. they said of course i would get a refund. what i didnt understand was, the seller now is 20k richer and ebay is out 20k. i asked them if they press any kind of theft charges and they stated that they do not. at best there would be some kind of "collections". i guess the point im trying to make is, if they dont bat an eye over $20,000, they surely are not going to pursue selling fees and ban members for "lying and being shifty". see what i did there?

....they dont care, nobody cares, this has been happening for years and will always be. if anyone reading this thread is that bothered by these things, the only thing i can think of to do is be a whistle blower of sorts. contact members selling items that you think or know are worth X amount and educate them on the value. advise them to accept various offers or ride it out but not to cancel their listings and accept someones offer. sounds time consuming to me but hey, knowledge is power.

"they surely are not going to pursue selling fees and ban members for "lying and being shifty"."

Well I did not think eBay would have eBay cops come and get buyers / sellers or even punish
people at all, I get that.
Heck I even said "This makes eBay a partner in crime really"

But what I was talking about is a line you set for yourself and say this is the kind of thing I will do,
and this is a kind of thing I will not do.

If it is a fear of some kind of punishment is the thing holding you back
from doing whatever is needed to get an item then yes I think you will be fine.

....i just realized who o***k actually is....

[ Edited by: nomeus 2015-07-04 01:23 ]

On 2015-07-02 23:14, tikiskip wrote:

Look it's a sale, the terms are clear, runs for so many days, here's the starting bid, highest bid wins, we all know how it works.

Will you take x amount is not part of how an eBay running auction works.
That's called a buy it now type auction, if this was a buy it now auction I give you my apologies.

There it is. Can't say it better than that.

And this I also like - by refusing to use Ebay Tikiskip is saying "I don't like it - so I'm not going to participate".
This isn't just about tiki mugs and people who game the Ebay system for their own selfish benefit.
This is everywhere, in everything today.

Don't wait for some enforcer to fix it or some rule to be administered. Stop participating, because when you participate, you are complicit.

To return to the original issue - I know I seem to be the only one in here that feels these stupid DTB mugs are a waste of good ceramic - but leave them to these rich idiots who are willing to throw 1000 bucks away on them. I guarantee you, if you want them, search a little in the wild and you'll find them for a dollar.

"by refusing to use Ebay Tikiskip is saying "I don't like it - so I'm not going to participate".

I do need to come clean on that one I do use eBay just don't look at the
tiki stuff anymore as the stuff I would want mostly goes to the same person
9 out of 10 times.

If I needed a part for my Hobart dishwasher from the 1940s or some odd thing, man eBay is the
place.
BUT I try to buy the stuff others are not looking at to make tiki.
You can still find on eBay even with shipping great stuff.

I also sell on eBay, not as much lately.

EBay has this crappy the buyer is always right attitude that blows.
The fact is the seller is eBay's customer and they should treat their customer (the seller)
with more respect or they will find they have lots of buyers with not many sellers.
The system eBay now has is one where the seller is the whore for eBay the pimp really.

And eBay gets paid in so many ways for the sale.
They get the selling fees and the Pay Pal fees, this is why you can't have insurance for
your sale in the final sale price as eBay could not charge a percent for insurance costs.
So insurance is good for the buyer, but since we can't make a dime on it it's out.

I do like those mugs though, they are cool.
Plus eBay and TC give you a way to see stuff you never knew was out there in the first place.

EBay has this crappy the buyer is always right attitude that blows.

And eBay gets paid in so many ways for the sale.

The Mother of Invention.

you guys keep talking about this "in the wild" stuff.... maybe in CA but thats not reality in florida. thats a lot of time and resources spent going to yard sales, estate sales, auctions, thrift stores etc and 99.9% of the time you will get 0 tiki. chances might be a tad higher on the west coast of florida but thats a long ass haul to go thrift shopping and for what? most likely will turn up nothing. surely you must know that thrift stores and the like have people on staff that take all the good stuff first and do whatever it is they do with it. all the high end collectibles never see the store floor.

Dam in Fla you got tons of old people who tend to die now and then.
Plus they have kids that don't want that tiki crap.
Would think that you are in one of the best places of all.

And sure you never, well almost never see good tiki in a thrift store.
You need to go to estate sales and garage sales.
And when you go on vacation stop at places.

It can be years between a really good find so it does take time.

If you got the cash eBay it, man that's what money is for.
I just got to a point in time where I had too much tiki, it all started to cost too much,
And what I did bid on I did not win too much.

You need to love looking for stuff to do it the hard way.
If you don't like looking and hunting for stuff then it's not for you.

My wife and I enjoy looking at flea markets and antique stores, plus don't let the
name antique store throw you off they got some cheap crap in there too.

Tikidavid would find Witcos and water skis ALL the time for next to nothing.
And that's how he did it.
Hunting ALL the time , as he loved to hunt tiki.

Yea that's not really my thing. I dislike even going to the grocery store

this thread has hit over 2000 views..you know what that means..

Sorry for the "rich idiots" comment. I was in a bad mood that day. And I have been one myself (or acted like one) - paying WAY more than I should for a few things i just couldn't find otherwise.
And both Tikiskip and Nomeus are right about "wild" shopping. I think I fall in the middle. I can do it once a year maybe - then not again for a long while. I don't much like shopping of any kind either - especially when i have no idea what I'm looking for or whether I'll find it.
Ebay, admittedly is great for that. I just need to get a better job or put into play my foolproof Lottery plan.

Yeah, we are definitely tiki-on-a-budget folks, but sadly we have to rely on eBay for almost everything concerning tiki culture. There is just no tiki in the wild in Vermont. I get all giddy if I find some monkeypod or bamboo accessories...yeah, it's that bad. My husband and I are very experienced flea market/thrift shop hunters, and we love searching for buried treasure, but tiki around here? Fuggedaboutit. So eBay here I come...